Skip to main content

UNDERSTAND CANCER BEFORE YOU REGRET

Understand Cancer before you regret by Dr. Nnamdi Elenwoke.


Concept


The word Cancer is a Latin word for crab or creeping ulcer. Hippocrates used the term karkinos (greek word for crab) for cancerous tumours because their enlarged veins look like the legs of a crab. Tumour is a Latin word for swelling.

There are 2 types of tumours: Benign and Malignant tumours. Cancer is the later.

Characteristics


Cancer cells have 4 important characteristics:

  • Poorly differentiated cells meaning they express little resemblance to normal cells of the tissue of origin.

  • Irregular and slow to rapid growing abnormal cells.

  • Invasion and infiltration of local tissues.

  • Metastasis (greek word: methistanai or to change): Capacity of cells to break away and start growing in a distant organ.


Types


There are different groups of cancer depending on their origin for example:

  • Carcinoma (most frequent) originates from epithelial cells like lung, breast, prostate, colon

  • Sarcoma is from bone and soft tissues

  • Leukaemia and Lymphoma develop from blood cells

  • Germ cells tumors are from cells that produce sperms or eggs
    Blastomas originate from embryonic tissue


According to the World Health Organization cancers are one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide. More than 60% of new cases occur in Africa, Asia and America (Central and South). Cancer claims around 8.2million lives each year and this equals to 13% of all deaths worldwide. 70% increase in new cases are expected over the next 2 decades. One third of deaths are related to some preventable factors listed later. Tobacco alone causes 22% of deaths.

Causes of death according to frequency

Men
1. Lung
2. Stomach
3. Liver
4. Colorectal
5. Oesophagus


Women
1. Breast
2. Lung
3. Stomach
4. Colorectal
5. Cervical


Identified causes include:

  • Genetics: if cancer runs in the family

  • Chemicals like tobacco smoke, asbestos, food and drinking water contaminants

  • Continuous exposure to high dose of ionizing radiation

  • Some microorganisms that produce infections like Hepatitis B and C, AIDS, Papilloma.


What you can do


Research has shown that at least 30% of this disease can be prevented by considering the following factors:

1. Reducing Tobacco and alcohol intake
2. Doing exercise to keep fit
3. Prevention or Immunisation against infection of Hepatitis B virus and Human Papillomavirus
4. Avoiding Air pollution and radiations
5. Maintaining a healthy diet


Early detection: this has to do with awareness of early signs and symptoms. Breast, cervical and colorectal cancer can be cured if detected early and treated effectively.

Screening: these are tests for selecting people with signs and symptoms similar to cancer. The American Cancer Society has an up to date guidelines for early detection.

Treatment


The goal is to improve a patient's life. The most frequent cancers have high cure rate when detected early. This includes breast, cervical, oral and colorectal cancer. Others like blood cancers although disseminated can also have high cure rate.

Treatment options can be one or combination of

  1. Surgery

  2. Radiotherapy

  3. Chemotherapy

  4. Palliative care aims at relieving but not curing symptoms so that patients especially in advanced stages can live more comfortably.


Researches are ongoing to understand better the pathology and increase effectiveness of treatment.

Please remember that 4th of February is World Cancer day. It is an initiative of the Union for International Cancer Control to increase awareness and foster prevention and treatment thereby reducing sickness and death from the disease.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Coconut oil is not healthy

The American Heart Association recently released a report advising against the use of coconut oil. The   Dietary Fats and Cardiovascular Disease advisory reviewed existing data on saturated fat, showing coconut oil increased LDL ("bad") cholesterol in seven out of seven controlled trials. Researchers didn't see a difference between coconut oil and other oils high in saturated fat, like butter, beef fat and palm oil. In fact, 82% of the fat in coconut oil is saturated, according to[...] Click here to continue reading More articles across the web There's One Factor that determines whether Coconut Oil will Help or Harm Us. Bulletproof Coffee Announces Bottled Bullshit Launch Stroke risk: Drinking THIS every day could PREVENT heart disease Low-fat diet linked to higher death rates, major Lancet study finds�� Fat isn't nearly as bad for you as we thought - and another ingredient is likely worse Tea vs coffee - which cuppa should you be drinking?
Post a Comment
Read more

Sunday Morning Inspiration – GRATITUDE: Part II

“ We showed him (ie. Man) the way; whether he be grateful or ungrateful (rests on his will)”  KORAN ( AL-INSAN 76:3). The law of gratitude (Thanksgiving) has been practiced by many thousands of years ago. From the Australian Aborigenes to the African Maasai and Zulu, from the American Navajo, Shawnee and Cherokee, to the Tahitians, Eskimo, and Maori, the practice of gratitude is at the root of most indigenous traditions.  Read also Part I Even the early American settlers aftter landing in the New World chose a particular date and time of the year to come together( Thanksgiving) to be grateful, which is still practiced till date. And we know that the major religions of Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Buddism, Sikhism and Hinduism all have gratitude at their core. Mohammed said that gratitude for the abundance you’ve received is the best insurance that the abundance will continue. Buddha said that you have no cause for anything but gratitude and joy. Lao Tzu said that if you rejo...
4 comments
Read more

Children and Vaccination

“So it's an absolute lie that has killed thousands of kids. Because the mothers who heard that lie, many of them didn't have their kids take either pertussis or measles vaccine, and their children are dead today. And so the people who go and engage in those anti-vaccine efforts -- you know, they, they kill children. It's a very sad thing, because these vaccines are important.” ― Bill Gates Since the advancement of medicine, medical practitioners found out there are ways you could prevent your child from suffering some terminal diseases as they grow up. They called this “Immunization or Vaccination”. Today, medical centers all over the world advise you to immunise your children so as to protect them from some certain diseases. You immunize your children through the use of vaccines, and this vaccination comes in different forms, and different age grades. Whаt аrе vaccines? Whеn germs enter thе body, thе immune system recognizes thеm аѕ foreign substances (antigens). Thе immun...
Post a Comment
Read more